The Portland daily press., 1887-07-12
NEW YORK GIRLS.
Walking a Lost Art Among Fash
ionabIy Dressed Bellies.
brooklyn Times.l

Two.young girls passed down leafy ave-
nue. Of the park, in front of me this morn
ing. They were pretty girls, ''stunners," a
diminutive specimen of the old chappie
called them, fiicking off late dandelion
bloom with his cane, and taking the rose
bud out of his mouth as he said so. He was
justified. They were summers, as New
York girls whose efforts in that line are bet
ter directed and more apt to be successful
than those of other girls. are wont to be.
Bright eyes, flowing hair, a bewilderment of
colors, audacious and, at the same time, per-
fectly harmonious ana in keeping with the
June luxuriance about them; swing and a
jingle of bead fringes and clanking chate-
LANES set them off in the New York girls
own high-spirited, vivacious style.
They were discussing summer plans One
was going to Newport in week, and the
other was alternately congratulated because
her father was going to take her on long
yachting voyage, and condoled with because
she was likely to get no tennis this summer
Yachting and tennis. That sounded like
outdoor living, and yet neither of them
could walk. The great bulges Of drapery on
their backs swayed, with every step, from
side to side, aggrayating jerky motion that
was of the same sort, If not as pronounced
as the painful forward bitches Of man on
stills. 1t seemed to the observer as if. in
stead of having any free command Of the
muscles that produce given motion. the
whole body was turned, perforce, into To-
comotiye machine that, pivoting somewhere
in the chest, brought one side forward and
then the other, with an altogether effort
that was not especially noticeable in a slow
saunter, but became positively distressing at
quick pace
The critical anatomist Of raiment would
have called them victims of three incubi
the tailor gown, the hustle and beads. The
tailor gown, one c0rsetiere assures me, has
reduced the size Of the average New York
girls waist two inches in as many years,
The tailor gown almost never weighs less
than ten pounds, and 1t runs from that up to
more than twenty The girl who has worn
it, is prepared to put on panoply of jet that
will make the delicately beaded net which
looks SO cool and airy that you might think a
fairy could dance in it, weigh nearer forty
pounds. She has grown so accustomed
to dress-burdens that her lace dresses for the
seashore have steels enough in their bodice;
and lead weights enough in the silk slips
under their skirts to make them far. from
| the summerish things they slook. With the
body muscles strapped Edown, and loose
| and Swaying bustle-mountain tied upon the
| back, carrying more weight than would tire
a hearty man, 1t is small wonder woman
can walk. one can I use ner BODY because
she has made pack-mule of it. The spring
ing step, with some vitality and rebound II
| 1t, which Is the true walking gait, is almos
| incompatible with her attire.
| Women, it els to be presumed. suit them
selves, and men, fortunately, are not critical
| are indeed incapable Of judging of woman'i
| dress or her walk dispassionately; and Sc
the present state of things may be right
enough, after all. A man ought to bt
tolerant. When woman is spending thu
greater part of her life in studying how t.
dress herself, it is reasonable to assume thai
she knows more about her own needs--ant
consequently, that to be able to walk is no
one OF them-than the exoteric critic
who cynically views results wher
the cold-hearted horse-car conduc
tor, half way down the block, bids her hurr,
up. And man is tolerant. A great majorit,
of masculine humanity, having tender sid,
for every reasonably good-looking woman
and being accustomed to see the most o
their angelic acquaintances dress and wall
in particular fashion, conclude, against tn
evidence of their senses, that both dress an
walk are graceful and becoming, which, a
before said, all things considered is a mos
| fortunate state of affairs.